Rebekah Weckerly

Tried something new…and old at the same time.

Some of the first stamps I ever bought included old trucks because when I was little my father owned a 1947 Ford truck. I have one of those stamps displayed on a shelf in my craft closet with a tool handle carved his name into and a picture of him when he was about six years old.

As I have shared before, I have been stamping for 20 plus years. Back in the day, the only stamps available were red rubber stamps glued to a wooded block. They were chunky and took up a ton of space and super expensive to buy. I still have some of my first wooden block stamps with the price tags on them, $12.99….for one stamp about 3 by 4 inches.

Wow. But those were the days before I had kids and I could spend my money as I wanted. So, of course, I bought every stamp in any style that the craft store sold. Hooked from day one is putting it mildly.
Then I had kids and expensive stamps went on the way side and pretty pattern scrapbook papers for .75 cents a sheet took their place. I still mixed stamps into my pages now and then but not often.

I was involved with a huge scrapbooking message board and I remember the day someone said they were trying the new ‘clear’ stamps on the market. What????? CLEAR Stamps? How is that possible?

And my stamping hobby was reborn. I even snubbed some of the old red rubber wooded stamps . ..wouldn’t even look at them in the craft store.

And that was the way of my stamping life a few weeks ago….

Enter Purple Onion Designs.I fell in love with their images. I looked them up and …..they are unmounted red rubber. At first I was bummed. What can they be mounted to in order to use???? I might have to trim off some of the rubber????? What?????

But then I got a good look at all the precious images though I needed to give them a try. I hit their Web site hard and had almost $200 worth of products in my cart. I had to narrow it down. When I did, I mentioned it to hubby and he gave me the green light to get what was in my cart as an early Christmas gift. Reason 5732 why I love that man!

I was so excited when they arrived at my door and now that I have used them I am even more excited! There is something about that red rubber. It feels good in my hands and best of all, they stamp beautifully…fabulously . …cleanly. Better then my expectations!

I watched video on the Purple Onion Design site (link) that shows that the stamps can be mounted to an acrylic block using removable tape runner and this is the method I use but with my Fiskars stamp press instead. I didn’t think it would hold. It does. I was worried I would not get a good image. I got a great image.

You may need to trim a little off your stamps when you get them. But that really is a non-issue . It’s much easier then I thought and if you take your time you will be just fine!

The top is how the stamps come and the bottom is a stamp once it has been trimmed. The other images are the same way with just a small amount of rubber around the edge of the image.

As far as coloring these images, start coloring by barely pressing the markers to the paper. Some of the images are small and have very fine detail. To let the details shine keep a light hand in order to keep the detail from getting lost in your coloring. They are so much fun to practice on and you will get the hang of it in no time.

Originally the owl did not have a scarf and hat but I had another image which did. I colored that image then simply cut out the pieces I needed and attached them to the owl. I think this gives the card a more consistent feel.

All images were colored with Copic markers except the snowflakes, which are from WPlus 9 and are stamped using Simon Says Stamp lipstick red ink. don’t ask me about the red snoflakes….I was sticking with an idea and I just seemed to work!

Bottom line on Purple Onion Designs stamps….they are amazing! … and no, i do not have any reason to rave about them. Honest opinions only on the blog! They are just as easy to use as clear stamps, stamp crisp and clear, the images are beautiful and they have a huge selection and awesome customer service . Do not pass on these stamps because you have questions on how to use them. Hopefully, I have helped here some. But also check out the link I provided earlier. There are other options thst you may like better. I will be using these stamps more and more!

Thanks for taking the time to read this saga of a post! I’m just a little excited and felt the need to share!

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3 thoughts on “Tried something new…and old at the same time.”

Thank you for this fabulous, heart-warming AND informative post about Purple Onions images! I don’t have very many, but the few I do have are simply adorable (and a couple more are on their way!). I agree: they stamp beautifully! My issue is that I don’t have copics (far too expensive here in Canada) and I’m not particularly well-versed with water-colour (my whopping 12 Zigs and I have an on-again/off-again relationship *grin*). Pencils I love but need more practice. Regardless, learning to make these sweet images shine – the way you do – is on my ‘must tackle’ list! You’ve certainly sparked incentive!
~carol (c.justme on instagram)
Adding you to my Feedly; your blog is a welcoming, inviting place to visit!

Thanks, Carol for checking out this post! I hear you loud and clear about the price of copics…even here in the US!! I have been building my collection for years and have more of the earth tones then I do of all the other colors put together! I color a lot of critters and I seem to use browns the most. Zigs are great! That is the only way I watercolor! I love the colors you get with the Zigs. Really, you can do a lot with them too. Do you use a similar color to shade or do you use only water? Just wondering because I seem to have better luck if I use water rather then another color. I think Purple Onion stamps would work great with colored pencils! Their style seem to lend its self to pencils.I need a lot of practice with them, tho. Especially the browns. One image may turn out great and then next not so great. There seems to be a learning curve with each different medium and with every type of stamps! Good thing practice is fun! I’ll be looking on Instagram for what you do! Thanks again for visiting! Many hugs to you!

This is a wonderful post and really resonated with me! I started stamping with wood-mounted stamps (back then the only options were wood-mounted or foam). And you’re right – the price was horrendous. I live in New Zealand so shipping them from the US added even more cost, cos those suckers are heavy! I have drawers full of them but never think to use them unless a challenge calls for older images. I love Purple Onion stamps and have them stored in stamp pockets with my clear stamps in the hopes I’ll use them more often. Your card is gorgeous and I love those red snowflakes!